quick poll: Do you use desktop search? (google or ms)

With vista's new web styled search coming and pretty much the destruction of folder based navigation in windows (no "up", no list, no top to bottom) - I was wondering if everyone does indeed like to search thier hard drives like they do the web

like it says in this news.com article today:

"Meanwhile Microsoft's new version of the Windows operating system, called Vista, will emphasize a Web-like search instead of its traditional folder-based navigation."

i dont use either desktop search app (tried them both)
i acutally love the search in windows server 2003
F3 - ready to find "files"... not google style ""results"

?

I can't stand using the "dog thing". I'll only use if I absolutely have to.  Between work and home, I've used the search feature maybe less than ten times in five years.  I just order things by folder names and save folder shortcuts in my favorites for quicker access.

I use GDS at work. It's really really useful. Search in Outlook is useless, and the built-in Windows search is just slow. GDS is fast and pretty accurate; I can usually find what I'm looking for fairly quickly.

At home, I use spotlight. It's not as fast as GDS, but to be fair it's running on a slower machine that's also a laptop (e.g., slower hard drive).

....always turn off the dog first time you see it

so 3 not using desktop search so far

youd think there whould be aprox 70% or higher people using those apps for them to make such a drastic change in windows...


*edit 3 - 1

?

I use Copernic Desktop Search.  Its faster than Windows Desktop Search and Google Desktop Search, it indexes files on the fly meaning when you delete em it automatically updates if you add a file it automatically updates.  I dont have that awful web based interface of GDS and I have more options on what file Im looking for than with Windows Desktop Search

Tried them both and I don't use either.

I found it easier to just organise my stuff into the right directories. Takes a bit more time but at least you know where stuff is.

 

 

BTW Jamie, I think Google is taking things way to far with their GDrive program.

Well i rarelly use windows search, but ocasionally i still use it, even tought i don't like it... Normally what i use is GDS... I find it quite helpfull, but sometimes i can't also keep track of things in it... a lot of information, to much searching in between...

If i had to choose... Well i've choosed GDS for main developing, so it could be the best of the best solutions, and still keep track of the normal deep file scanning so it could be a eventually used resource...

I use MSN Desktop Search, I use to use googles one but the indexing was too big and had too much junk included with it.

But MSNDS really blows for advanced searches, and they both blow for searching through code files, eg. .htm .php .cs etc.

I tried one of them at one point a couple of years ago.  Well, sort of.  When it wanted to take over an hour to index my machine I tossed it.

I rarely have a need to search my machine.  I generally know where I put things because I put them in meaningful folders to begin with.

I haven't seen Vista yet, but if they are taking away my ability to organize things the way I see fit someone needs their head examined.

Tried them... don't like them. I will echo the above and say I keep my files well organized in folders, etc, and never need a desktop search. Sometime, I will use the built in Windows search, but that is rare.

Cairo wrote:

I use GDS at work. It's really really useful. Search in Outlook is useless, and the built-in Windows search is just slow. GDS is fast and pretty accurate; I can usually find what I'm looking for fairly quickly.

MS version installs an Outlook Plug-In.

yaggii wrote:

Well i rarelly use windows search, but ocasionally i still use it, even though i don't like it... 

I agree.

balupton wrote:

But MSNDS really blows for advanced searches, and they both blow for searching through code files, eg. .htm .php .cs etc.

PHLAT helps with advanced, not code though.

And MS because of the same search filters in MS Server products

I use MSN toolbar search quite a lot, not just for searching, it's macros are very useful.

I almost use it more then start->program files.

I've found it excellent a digging up barely remembered eMail messages from years ago!

Used to use Google's, but i got a new machine and thought i tried MS instead, not felt like going back to google's.

Google Desktop Search at work, nothing at home.
Used to have it installed on my home PC as well, but I found that I never searched for anything on there with it, so I removed it.  I use it mostly to search e-mail at work.

jamie wrote:

With vista's new web styled search coming and pretty much the destruction of folder based navigation in windows (no "up", no list, no top to bottom) - I was wondering if everyone does indeed like to search thier hard drives like they do the web

like it says in this news.com article today:

"Meanwhile Microsoft's new version of the Windows operating system, called Vista, will emphasize a Web-like search instead of its traditional folder-based navigation."

i dont use either desktop search app (tried them both)
i acutally love the search in windows server 2003
F3 - ready to find "files"... not google style ""results"

The point to most desktop searches is being able to search Outlook, actually -- or Outlook at the same time as files.  As Cairo pointed out, the search that's built-in to Outlook is useless; the search that's built-in to Windows doesn't search Outlook.

Really it's mostly about email... the search feature in Windows is ok for files/documents.

I ran Google Desktop Search for a while.  It was ok/useful.  Decided to try Windows Desktop Search instead.  That was a mistake on a machine that doesn't perform at blazing speed.    For some reason Windows Desktop Search just kills the CPU on this thing when it kicks in and starts indexing.  The disk also just thrashes.  That would be ok, but it seems to also be super-aggressive about kicking in.  As in, a brief pause in the middle of typing a sentence would make it think it was ok to start indexing the disk again.  It just seems to have a poor sense of when the computer's really idle.

I got to where I was telling WDS to go to sleep (pausing indexing) for hours at a time... currently it's just not even running

Google Desktop Search, on the other hand, was far less inobtrusive.  I almost never noticed when the indexing would start.  And for whatever reason, when it does index, it doesn't sound like it's beating the actuators on the disk to death   So I will be going back to Google...

I personally won't miss hierarchies of folders.  A lot of objects belong in more than one node anyway -- e.g. a budget spreadsheet for project XYZ could go under /Projects/XYZ/Budgets, or /Budgets/XYZ, or 2006/1Q/Budgets etc. ad nauseam and most people just invent some kind of structure that works for them.  I'd just as soon throw it all in one bucket and then just search for the string "xyz budget."

The "bad" thing is that we are losing the spatial relationships between objects in the GUI.  The human brain has dedicated hardware for processing spatial relationships -- WHERE things appear -- and now we're not going to use it at all.  That was the genius of the "desktop metaphor" in the graphical user interface.

As a visual person, you probably use visual, spatial relationships (e.g. folder navigation) more than most so I could see why you would be asking about who needs desktop search anyway....

i use the desktop itself for sure.  thats where everything new goes - or anything im working on.

when it gets to have too many files or work is done - ill clean it up and put stuff where it goes

every friend and relative i know has all there stuff on the desktop in much the same way

i loved the Desktop icon that used to be in windows everywhere

i dont mind ms adding whatever they want to vista - i just wish theyd put back some obvious stuff theyve removed

* also i agree.. i like searches to be file based - or internet based
not mixed up

Windows/Microsoft/MSN Desktop search integrates into Outlook giving you the same search style restricted only to an Outlook focus or use the desktop version and have your Outlook content included in a computer wide search.

Hierarchies of folders I agree will not me missed, hopefully the metadata can get a little better as tooo many copies of setup.exe

I rarely notice the indexing and it does it the core when I am away from the PC